Why does my wifi keep cycling from ON to Looking for Network every 2 seconds

456846 wrote:

OK, I finally got it. Here is what the scan showed.

So from here, how am I supposed to set my router to the best channel? Do I have to have Comcast change this?

It depends on your router. Most have a web interface and there may be directions on Comcast's website on how to access the configuration settings.

Or, find the make and model number on the router and google it.

From that display it appears you only have a 2.4GHz router since it only lists a current channel of 6. It is suggesting you use 1 or 2.

That is good advice as most routers default to 6 and you want to be as far away from that as you can get, so either 1 or 11.

How do you know it is looking for networks every two seconds?

When you click the menu, it looks for networks so it can display them to you as that is what you asked for when you clicked the menu.

There can be many reasons for spotty WiFi, and it can vary from Mac to Mac as the airport cards and antennas are different. It is more often than not interference on the same or nearby channels. Most wireless routers default to the same channel. If you and your neighbors don't change them, then they are all broadcasting on the same frequency.

Hold down the Option key and select Open Wireless Diagnostics from the WiFi menu.

You can run the diagnostics from the window that opens, but I just scan the networks and see what is there.

From the Window menu choose Scan. Click Scan Now on the window that opens.

It will show all the networks and the channels they are on. It will also advise the best channels to choose. Be careful with that, though, as it doesn't take into account your networks. It just looks at all of them and makes a decision based on that. I guess you could turn your router off, then scan. That would give you the correct "best" channel.

456846 wrote:

- I still need more information. Which "Window Menu" are we talking about? The "Window Menu" in the finder? If thats the case I don't see a "Scan" option.

I think this is what Barney is trying to tell you:

In the Finder menu bar, hold down the option key & click on the wifi icon. A drop down will show. This is where you see "Open Wireless Diagnostics.." Click on that option and you will get another window. Follow the onscreen instructions.

456846 wrote:

Every time I select the menu on my Mini, it scans for available networks, just as all of my other Macs have done. How would it know what is available to choose if it doesn't scan for them?

- To clarify, I'm keeping the wifi drop down open and it is cycling back and forth between "Wi-Fi: ON" to "Wi-Fi: Looking for Networks" over and over. It is not doing this on my other computer. I have a full bar connection when the router in question is selected, however I'm still having intermittent issues where webpages are taking a long time to load or sometimes do not load at all. This is across all browsers. I do not have this problem when my laptop is plugged into the router via Ethernet. I have a feeling there might be something wrong with the internal wifi antenna but I'm not sure.

Yes, as I said before, that is how it works. If you drop down the menu, the OS assumes you might want to change networks. It therefore looks for any new networks. It will keep looking while you have the menu displayed.

From the Window menu choose Scan. Click Scan Now on the window that opens.

- I still need more information. Which "Window Menu" are we talking about? The "Window Menu" in the finder? If thats the case I don't see a "Scan" option.

As the entire paragraph was discussing the Wireless Diagnostics, that is the menu bar I was referring to.

Open Wireless Diagnostics, ignore the window that opens, and choose Scan from the Window menu. I have also seen versions where it just has Utilities in that menu. If so, select that. Then there is an option to select Scan from the Utilities window.

- When I click on the wifi icon in the top bar, I keep it open and it cycles back and forth between "Wi-Fi: ON" to "Wi-Fi: Looking for Networks" about every couple of seconds. When I open the imac wifi icon the status stays on "Wi-Fi: ON"

Every time I select the menu on my Mini, it scans for available networks, just as all of my other Macs have done. How would it know what is available to choose if it doesn't scan for them?

- I did the diagnostic and it says that wifi is working as expected. I didn't see it scan any networks or give me options for the best channels to choose. Can you clarify this part?

3rd paragraph, 3rd sentence.

From the Window menu choose Scan. Click Scan Now on the window that opens.

Hopefully that will improve performance for you.